Tobacco-stemming machine



Jafi. 13,1925. 1,523,034 J. O. MORRIS TOBACCO STEMMING MACHINE Filed Nov. 1, 1919 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR J. O. MORRIS TOBACCO STEMMI-NG MACHINE Jan 1. 1 1 l 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 1, 1919 o E J v w ATTORNEY Jan. 13; 1925.

' 1,523,034 J. o. MORRIS TOBACCO s'rmmma MACHINE Filed Nov. 1, 1919 4 Sheets-Sheet s INVENTOR BY Z ATTORNEY Jan; 13, 1925 7 1,523,034

' J. O. 'MORRIS TOBACCO STEMMING MACHINE,

- Filed Nov. 1, 1919 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

INVENTOR I ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 13, 1925.

tihiiihfi STATES;

JOHN O. MORRIS, 015 WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR- T PLANTERS STEP/[MING COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, ll. 5. A" CORIEOBATION OF DELAWARE.

TOBACCO-STEMMING DIAGI'IINE.

'- 1. Application filed November To (ZZZ whom 2'25 may concern:

' Be itknown that I, JOHN O. Monars. a citizen of the United States, residing at lVashington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful I1nprovements in Tobacco-Stemming Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

his. invention relates to stemming machines, and with respect to its more specific features to machines for stemming tobacco leaves.

One of the objects of the invention is the provisio of a practical tobacco stemming machine of high stemming capacity.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a simple and eiiicient machine for automatically feeding and stemming tobacco leaves.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinaften.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter described and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, wherein similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views,

Figure l is a rear elevation of a machine embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of the machine;

Fig. 3 is a Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of a portion of Fig. 1, showing the arrangement of certain of the belts;

Fig. 5 is a transverse section through Fig. 1; i

Figs. 6 and 7 are-detail views of certain parts.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings, there is illustrated a tablewhich may be made in two sections 1 and 2, supported on the frame of the machine, which latter may comprise end standards 3 and 4, intermediate standards 5 and 6. and cross pieces 5' and 6 joining the standards. The numerals 7 and 8 indicate aligning boards sectional detail on line a-a,

1, 1919. Serial No. 335,085.

against which the butt ends of the tobacco leaves may be placed and which tend to keep the ends in alignment as they are fed toward stripping position. Beneath each of the table sections 1 and 2 are disposed belt rolls 9, 10 and 11, and inasmuch as these rolls and the belts cooperatively associated therewith, below each section, are similar, a description of one will suihce for all. The roll 9 is suitably journaled on the frame of the machine to one side of the table section. The two rolls 10 and 11 are journaled in the frame of the machine, the former at the inner side of the table section and the latter some distance vertically beneath the former. Around the belt rolls 9,10 and 11 passes a feed belt 14, being preferably a wide canvas belt, one ply of which is horizontal and lies on the table section 1, and another ply of which, as indicated at 15, wardly from the table, thence around the belt roll 11 and thence upwardly and around the roll 9. The numeral 16 i udicates a stripping mechanism which, in the present embodiment. is formed of a series. or field, of short teeth carried at one of the lateral margins of the feed belt 14. These teeth may he provided by fastening to the belt 1% narrow strips of card clothing. or, instead of metallic teeth, such as usually found in card. clothing, teeth of fibrous material may be employed. as for instance. tanipico. The belt 1 1 is endless and the stripping teeth likewise provide an endless field on the margin of the belt 14. Lying closely along side the brush belt, or card clothing 16, is a narrow clearer belt 17 wh ch is also end less, and in the present embodiment the horizontal and vertical plies of the clearer belt 17 lie closely against the surface of the feed belt 14. As illustrated in Fig. 5 however, the vertical ply of the clearer belt 17 extends in a plane at an angle to the stripping belt 16 from that point of the machine where the stripping operation is concluded, so that the stripped blade material will be lifted from the teeth 16 where enmeshed therewith and conducted from the place where it was stripped to a position below the stripping belt. In order to efiect this, the belt rolls 18 and 19 are provided, and it will be seen that the clearer belt extends below and beyond the point where the stripping teeth 16 pass around the rolls 11. The numeral 20 indicates a separating belt the extends downhorizontal and vertical plies of which lie against the feed belt 14 and therewith pass over the rolls 9 and 10. The separating belt also passes around a belt roll 20 set a distance beneath roll 11. Between the vertically spaced belt rolls 10 and 11 the vertical plies of the several belts are backed or supported by an abutment or board 21 laterally adjustable by means of the belts or screws 22, these bolts or screws passing through convenient portions of the machine frame. a

The numerals 23 and 24. indicate a pair of drawing rolls, in the present instance, cylindrical drawing rolls having their axes vern tically arranged and generally parallel to the generally vertical cooperative plane of the two stripping belts 16. The drawing rolls preferably have rubber surfaces for gripping the stems of the tobacco leaves.

At 25 are indicated rotary brushes for cleaning the teeth 16 from particles of leaf which may adhere thereto. These brushes cooperate with the ascending ply of the held of teeth, so as to prepare it for the reception of further supply of unstemmed leaves. At 26 are indicated butting devices for stripping the butts of the stems and preparing them for more ready grasping by the drawing rolls 24. Two rotary butting brushes are employed, located above and in rear of the toothed fields 16, and comprising wire teeth carried by a rotary shaft 27. The butting brushes 26 are disposed adjacent the inner ends of the table sections 1 and 2, so as to operate on the unbutted leaves supplied at the outer ends of their sections.

For driving the several belts and brushes any suitable mechanism may be employed. In the present embodiment there is provided a main driving shaft 28, on which one of the belt rolls 11 may be carried, and to which a belt pulley 29 is attached and may be driven by a belt 30. At 31 and 32 are in termeshing gears of equal size for transmitting rotation from the driving shaft 28 to the other belt roll 11. By this arrangement the two feed belts 14 and the two fields of teeth 16 are driven at the same speed, the.

clearer belts 17 and the separating belts 20 --being also driven at the same speed by their contact with the feed belts 14.

J ournaled in the frame of the machine above the gear 31 is a shaft 33 driven by a pinion 34='meshing with gear 31, and having a worm gear 35 meshing with a worm gear 36 on one oft-he drawing rolls 24:. The

train from the gear 31 to the drawing roll "241s geared up so as to rotate the drawing rolls at a relatively high speed. One of the drawing rolls is positively rotated from the other by intermeshing gears 37 and" 38.

On the shaft 33 is a sprocket wheel 39 driving a chain 40, in turn driving another 1 f v sprocket wheel e1, which by a chain %2,

meshing with a bevel gear 47 on a shaft 48 carrying one of the cleaning brushes 25, the other cleaning brush 25' being driven through a similar shaft 49 by intermeshing bevel gears on the two shafts'l8 and 49. If desired, and as illustrated, the belt rolls 20 and 20 may be positively drivenfrom the shaft 28 through the ,instrurnentality of a train of gears 50, 51 and 52. In orderto as-. sist in delivering the stems of the leaves to between the drawing rolls 23, 24, curved spring plates or deflectors 53 are disposed above the stems. The stems contacting these plates will be deflected downwardly in alignment with the cooperative plane of the drawing rolls.

In operation, the unstemmed tobacco leaves are laid upon the horizontal plies of the feed belts 14 lying upon the table sections 1 and 2 with the butt ends of the leaves pro- 7 jecting over the adjacent margin of the feed belt and beyond the field of stripping teeth. As the machine operates, the leaves will be fed toward the center of the machine, the

butt ends of the leaves will" be stripped of blade material by the butting brushes 26, and the leaves will eventually be carried downwardly into cooperative relation with the mutually cooperative vertical plies of the several belts, whereupon in their passage downwardly the butt ends of the stems will be seized by the drawing rolls 2a and the stems drawn from between the stripping belts leaving the blades of the stemmed leaves crumpled up between the vertical plies of the clearer belts 17-. As the movement continues the clearer belts will eventually carry the stripped blade downwardly and eject it below the rolls 18' and 19, and any portions which tend to cling tothe teeth of the stripping belts will be lifted from such teeth. 7. Should any leaf be so short as not to be seized by the drawing rolls or should some of the leaves be broken before It will be observed that thestripping belts,

the feed belts, the clear belts and the sepa= rating belts are disposed in pairs, and have both horizontal and vertical plies, the latter ofwhich cooperate with each other to perform the operations hereinbefore referred.

to, the horizontal plies extending outwardly fromthecooperative plane of stripping furnishing a plurality of points for feeding 7 leaf materialto be stripped.

It will be observed that the toothed belts Cal 16 not only cooperate with each other where they are vertically disposed close together and parallel, which is the stripping position in the present embodiment, but their horizontal plies extend in different directions from stripping position so as to feed the leaves from different, in the present instance, opposite points of supply. It may also be noted that the horizontal plies of the toothed belts 16 support the unstripped leaves in advance of stripping position and deliver the leaves between tl e plies at stripping position, the main body of the leaves being also supported by the belts 17 and 20, which latter extend beyond the far, or lower end, of

Y the stripping position.

Thus by the above described construction are accomplished, among others, the objects hereinbefore referred to.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently Widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all l matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claimsis in tended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a tobacco stemming machine, in combination, a pair of endless brush belts the plies of which belts mutually cooperate in a substantially vertical plane at stripping position, each of said belts having a leaf supporting portion movable toward said cooperative plane to feed leaf to said cooperative plies, and means adapted to seize the leaf stems and draw them from between said cooperative plies.

2. In a tobacco stemming machine, in combination, a pair of endless brush belts the plies of which belts mutually cooperate in a substantially vertical plane at stripping position, each of said belts having a leaf supporting portion movable toward said 00- operative plane to feed leaf to said cooperative plies, means adapted to seize the leaf stems and draw them. from between said cooperative plies, and means, including a clearer belt for each brush belt, movable alongside said brush belts, said clearer belts and brush belts extending in planes at angles to each other from said stripping position.

3. In a tobacco stemming machine, in combination, a table and two stripping belts,

said belts having plies lying on said table and plies extending downwardly from said table, said latter plies adapted to mutually cooperate to form a stripping device, means adapted to seize leaf stems and draw them through said stripping device, and clearer belts, one alongside the horizontal and vertical portions of each stripping belt, the downwardly extending portions of each clearer belt extending below the downwardly e3rtending portions of said stripping belts.

d. In a tobacco stemming machine, in combination, a pair of endless brush belts the plies of which belts mutually cooperate in a substantially vertical plane at stripping position, each of said belts having a leaf supporting portion movable toward said cooperative plane to feed leaf to said cooperative plies, means adapted to seize the leaf stems and draw them from between said cooperative plies, and means to deflect the butt ends of the leaves towards said drawing means.

5. In a tobacco stemming machine, in combination, a pair of endless brush belts the plies of which belts mutually cooperate in a substantially vertical plane at stripping position, each of said belts having a leaf supporting portion movable toward said cooperative plane to feed leaf to said cooperative plies, means adapted to seize the leaf stems and draw them from between said cooperative plies, a rotatable shaft adjacent said brush belts, and wire teeth carried by said shaft and adapted to butt the stems prior to the drawing operation. 7

6. In a tobacco stemming machine, in combination, a pair of endless toothed stripping belts the plies of which are movable in parallel planes close together at stripping position, portions of each belt in advance of stripping position being disposed to support and deliver leaf between the plies at stripping position.

7. In a tobacco stemming machine, in combination, a pair of endless toothed stripping belts the plies of which are movable in parallel planes close together at stripping position, portions of each belt in advance of stripping position being disposed to support and deliver leaf between the plies at stripping position, and a pair of endless clearer belts movable and cooperative alongside said stripping belts at stripping position, said latter belts extending beyond the far end of said stripping position.

8. In a tobacco stemming machine, in combination, a pair of endless toothed stripping belts the plies of which are movable in parallel planes close together at stripping position, portions of each belt in advance of stripping position being disposed to support and deliver leaf between the plies at stripping position, and a pair of endless clearer belts movable and cooperative alongside said stripping belts at stripping position, said latter belts extending beyond the far end of said stripping position, said clearer belts being also disposed and movable alongside the leaf supporting and delivery portions of said stripping belts.

9. In a tobacco stemming machine, in combination, a pair of endless toothed stripping belts the plies of which are movable in parallel planes close together at stripping position, portions of each belt in advance of stripping position being disposed to support and deliver leaf between the plies at stripping position, a pair of endless clearer belts movable and cooperative alongside said stripping belts at stripping position, said latter belts extending beyond the far end of said stripping position, and a pair of endless separating belts movable and cooperative alongside said clearer belts at stripping position, said separating belts extending beyond the far end of said stripping position.

10. In a tobacco stemming machine, in combination, a pair of endless toothed stripping belts the plies of which are movable in parallel planes close together at stripping position, portions of each belt in advance of stripping position being disposed to support and deliver leaf between the plies at stripping position, a pair of endless clearer belts movable and cooperative alongside said stripping belts at stripping position, said latter belts extending beyond the far end of said stripping position, and a pair of endless separating belts movable and cooperative alongside said clearer belts at stripping position, said separating belts extending beyond the far end of said stripping position, said separating belts being also disposed and movable alongside those portions of the clearer belts which are alongside the leaf supporting and delivery portions of said stripping belts.

11. In a tobacco stemming machine, in combination, a pair of endless toothed stripping belts the pliesof which are movable in parallel planes close together at stripping position,-portions of each belt in advance of stripping position being disposedto support and deliver leaf between the plies at stripping position, and a pair of cooperative drawing rolls alongside said stripping position. V

12. In a tobacco stemming machine, in combination, a pair of endless toothed stripping belts the plies of which are movable in parallel planes 'closetogether at stripping position, portions ofeach belt in advance "of stripping position being disposedto support and deliver leaf between the plies at stripping position, a pair of cooperative drawing rolls alongside said stripping position, means adapted to cooperate with the leaves on the belts in advance of stripping position and deflect said leaves toward said rolls, a rotatable shaft adjacent those portions of the belts in advance of stripping position, and Wire teeth carried by said shaft adapted to butt the stems of the leaves prior to the drawing operation. 7 a

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN O. MORRIS. Witnesses i J. W. ANDERsoN, H. M. SEAMAN'S; 

